Heptapod B and whorfianism. Language extrapolation in science fiction

Résumé

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that the language someone speaks shapes their thoughts. Although this view may have fallen into disrepute in the field of linguistics, its influence, the Whorfianism, has been the number one showcase in science fiction works that somehow approach language, and more specifically, invented languages. This paper uses Ted Chiang’s award-winning novella Story of your life (1998) and its filmic adaptation Arrival (2016) directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Eric Heisserer as a case study to investigate this literary phenomenon. The considerations of Guy Deutscher (2010), Stockwell (2006) and Ria Cheyne (2008), as well as the authors’ own viewpoints, are vitally important for that. The result is a speculative and comparative analysis that contributes to a better understanding of the frequent connexion of science fiction, glossopoesis and Whorfianism.